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Methodist
Brian Shetler, Drew University, Convener

MEMBERS PRESENT

• Brian Shetler, Drew University, Convener
• Chris Anderson, Yale University
• Brady Beard, Emory University
• Jane Elder, Southern Methodist University
• Ellen Frost, Southern Methodist University
• Andy Keck, Southern Methodist University
• Steve Perisho, Seattle Pacific University
• Mary-Carol Riehs, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
• John Shaffet, Shorter University
• Daniel Smith, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
• Lee Webb, St. Paul School of Theology

The Methodist Librarians’ Fellowship met online via Zoom as part 
of the 2020 Atla Annual on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, from 12:00-12:30 
p.m. Central time. The meeting was convened by Brian Shetler, Drew 
University.

AGENDA

1) Approval of 2019 Meeting Minutes
2) Update on Group Convenor
3) Institutional Reports
4) New Business

APPROVAL OF 2019 MINUTES

The minutes of the 2019 meeting of the Methodist Librarians’ Fellow-
ship were approved with no changes.



48  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

UPDATE ON GROUP CONVENOR

Due to the COVID pandemic and uncertainty about this year’s Atla 
conference, Brian Shetler (Drew University) decided to continue 
to serve as convenor for this year. This seemed like the best way to 
move forward for this year and to maintain consistency in convenor-
ship, rather than having someone new rotate in during the pandemic. 
The original rotation of convenors, decided upon in 2018, would 
be determined by alphabetical order based on name of institution. 
Following Drew University would be Duke University. This rotation 
will be picked up at next year’s conference, with a representative 
from Duke taking over as convenor. The group agreed that this would 
be the plan for next year. Brian will reach out to Duke to determine 
who would be able to take over the convenor role next year.

INSTITUTIONAL REPORTS

Drew University
Updated the group on changes in the General Commission of Archives 
and History. Dale Patterson, longtime archivist at the GCAH, retired 
in December 2019. Fred Day, general secretary of the GCAH, is retir-
ing at the end of the calendar year. A new, hybrid position has been 
created to fill both roles, combining library/archival experience with 
management leadership.

Southern Methodist University
Updated the group on Wesley Works. Craig Hill (at Perkins) and 
Randy Maddox are getting close to determining the final number 
of volumes of the Wesley Works project. The expectation is that the 
project should be completed within five years. The Wesley Works 
editorial board has the rights to publish/post in a digital environ-
ment and discussions are underway about how to make the material 
become more accessible online. Part of this concerns a larger digital 
humanities project, possibly using TEI, working with Dr. Michelle 
Taylor at USF who is interested in working with Wesley material and 
has background in digital humanities. Andy and Michelle presented 
their ideas at Atla Annual 2020 and noted that some future group 
work (distributive among various libraries) could come into play. 
Andy discussed a comparison between the John Edwards project at 
Yale and the possible Wesley digital project.



Denominational Group Meetings  49

Yale University
Discussed updates to the UM Studies Bibliography and the shifting 
timeline with the change to the UMC General Conference. The aim is 
to update the bibliography in conjunction with the next GC.

NEW BUSINESS

Brian mentioned the ongoing project that the GCAH has developed 
to transcribe hand-written captions of Methodist Missionary Photo 
Albums and encouraged people to look into the project if they are 
interested in some hands-on work with archival materials.

2019–20 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] Brian Shetler, Lee Webb, Mary-Carol Riehs, 
Andrew Keck, Steve Perisho, John Shaffett, Chris Anderson, Daniel Smith, Ellen 
Frost, Jane Elder, Brady Bears


